²⁴ Do not ^(A)judge by the outward appearance, but judge ^[a]with righteous judgment.”

Sexual Immorality Rebuked

5 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and sexual immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, namely, that someone has ^(A)his father’s wife. ^2 [a]You ^(B)have become ^[b]arrogant and ^[c]have not ^(C)mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be ^(D)removed from your midst.

³ For I, on my part, though ^(E)absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. ^4 (F)In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and ^[d]I with you in spirit, ^(G)with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵ I have decided ^[e]to ^(H)turn such a person over to ^(I)Satan for the destruction of his ^[f]body, so that his spirit may be saved on ^(J)the day of the ^[g]Lord.

^6 (K)Your boasting is not good. ^(L)Do you not know that ^(M)a little ^[h]leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? ⁷ Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our ^(N)Passover also has been sacrificed. ⁸ Therefore let’s celebrate the feast, ^(O)not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹ I wrote to you in my letter ^(P)not to associate with sexually immoral people; ¹⁰ I did not at all mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the greedy and swindlers, or with ^(Q)idolaters, for then you would have to leave the world. ¹¹ But ^[i]actually, I ^[j]wrote to you not to associate ^[k]with any so-called ^(R)brother if he is a sexually immoral person, or a greedy person, or ^(S)an idolater, or is verbally abusive, or habitually drunk, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a person. ¹² For what business of mine is it to judge ^(T)outsiders? ^(U)Do you not judge those who are within the church? ¹³ But those who are outside, God ^[l]judges. ^(V)Remove the evil person from among yourselves.

Testing the Spirits

4 ^(A)Beloved, do not believe every ^(B)spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because ^(C)many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² By this you know the Spirit of God: ^(D)every spirit that ^(E)confesses that ^(F)Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; ³ and every spirit that ^(G)does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the ^(H)antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and ^(I)now it is already in the world. ⁴ You are from God, ^(J)little children, and ^(K)have overcome them; because ^(L)greater is He who is in you than ^(M)he who is in the world. ^5 (N)They are from the world, therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. ^6 (O)We are from God. ^(P)The one who knows God listens to us; ^(Q)the one who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know ^(R)the spirit of truth and ^(S)the spirit of error.

God Is Love

^7 (T)Beloved, let’s ^(U)love one another; for love is from God, and ^(V)everyone who loves has been ^(W)born of God and ^(X)knows God. ⁸ The one who does not love does not know God, because ^(Y)God is love. ⁹ By this the love of God was revealed ^[a](Z)in us, that ^(AA)God has sent His only Son into the world so that we may live through Him. ¹⁰ In this is love, ^(AB)not that we loved God, but that ^(AC)He loved us and sent His Son to be ^(AD)the ^[b]propitiation for our sins. ^11 (AE)Beloved, if God so loved us, ^(AF)we also ought to love one another. ^12 (AG)No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God remains in us, and His ^(AH)love is perfected in us. ^13 (AI)By this we know that we remain in Him and He in us, because He has given to us of His Spirit. ¹⁴ We have seen and ^(AJ)testify that the Father has ^(AK)sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

^15 (AL)Whoever confesses that ^(AM)Jesus is the Son of God, God ^(AN)remains in him, and he in God. ^16 (AO)We have come to know and have believed the love which God has ^[c](AP)for us. ^(AQ)God is love, and the one who ^(AR)remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. ¹⁷ By this, ^(AS)love is perfected with us, so that we may have ^(AT)confidence in ^(AU)the day of judgment; because ^(AV)as He is, we also are in this world. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love, but ^(AW)perfect love drives out fear, because fear ^[d]involves punishment, and the one who fears is not ^(AX)perfected in love. ^19 (AY)We love, because He first loved us. ^20 (AZ)If someone says, “I love God,” and yet he ^(BA)hates his brother or sister, he is a ^(BB)liar; for ^(BC)the one who does not love his brother and sister whom he has seen, ^(BD)cannot love God, whom he has not seen. ²¹ And ^(BE)this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God ^(BF)must also love his brother and sister.

²⁶ For this reason ^(A)God gave them over to ^(B)degrading passions; for their women exchanged natural relations for that which is contrary to nature, ²⁷ and likewise the men, too, abandoned natural relations ^[a]with women and burned in their desire toward one another, ^(C)males with males committing ^[b]shameful acts and receiving in ^[c]their own persons the due penalty of their error.